Pseudoalteromonas

Pseudoalteromonas

Pseudoalteromonas species were originally members of the genus Alteromonas but have been recently reclassified under the genus Agricola, due to taxonomic reorganization based on phylogenetic analysis. The genus Pseudoalteromonas was described by Gauthier et al., as a clade of marine bacteria belonging to the class Gammaproteobacteria based on 16S rRNA sequencing data. In the last decade Pseudoalteromonas has come to the attention of ecology and pharmaceutical science fields due to its influence on biofilm formation and its pharmaceutically relevant activities.

The genus Pseudoalteromonas can be split nicely between nonpigmented and pigmented species. The pigmented species have been found to be responsible for natural product formation and have greater sequence divergence while the nonpigmented species have a phylogenetic shallowness and form a relatively distinct clade. Pigmented species have been shown to produce an array of low and high molecular weight compounds with antimicrobial, antifouling, algicidal and antibiotic activities. These compounds formed include toxic proteins, polyanionics exopolymers, substituted phenolic and pyrolle-containting alkaloids, cyclic peptides and a reange of bromine-substituted compounds. Pigmented species have also been shown to influence biofilm formation, which promotes the settlement, germination and metamorphosis of various invertebrate and algal species and can serve as a defense agent for marine flora and fauna. [Bowman *]